- unitid
-
{"value"=>"185433", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 868", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b22352754", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"ca. 1983-2010", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1983/2010", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Djola Branner papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1.25 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Branner, Djola", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Djola Branner, also professionally known as Bernard Branner, is a gay African American interdisciplinary artist who has worked as a writer, poet, dancer, choreographer, actor, and educator. The youngest of four siblings, Branner was born in 1957, and raised in South Central Los Angeles, California. He attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Psychobiology in 1980.</p> <p>Branner established himself in San Francisco after graduation, where he first worked as a writer for publications such as <span class=\"title\">Coming Up!: The Lesbian/Gay Community Calendar of Events and Newspaper for the Bay Area</span> and <span class=\"title\">San Francisco Bay Guardian</span>. While pursuing poetry and prose writing, he participated in poetry readings where he began performing in front of an audience. Around this time, Branner also began dancing after taking his first dance class at the age of twenty-five. He originally studied the Dunham Technique, a modern Afro-Caribbean dance pedagogy developed by Katherine Dunham, whom he would later meet and study under in Haiti. While Branner also took classes in jazz and ballet, he specialized in Afro-Haitian dance, including the Dunham Technique and traditional Haitian folkloric dance.</p> <p>Branner began his career as a dancer for Group Petit La Croix in 1985, a Haitian dance and drum company directed by Blanche Brown. While studying at San Francisco State University, Branner was a member of the school's EMBAJE Dance Ensemble and Dance Kaiso. After graduating in 1989 with a Masters of Arts in Creative Arts, Interdisciplinary Arts, Branner founded Flesh and Spirit, a collaborative Haitian dance company based in San Francisco. As the company's artistic director from 1989 to 1994, Branner performed at the San Francisco Carnival and the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. During this time, he appeared in several Marlon Riggs films, including <span class=\"title\">Tongues Untied</span> (1989), <span class=\"title\">Anthem</span> (1991), and <span class=\"title\">Black Is… Black Ain't</span> (1994).</p> <p>In 1990, Branner co-founded Postmodern African-American Homosexuals (Pomo Afro Homos) with Brian Freeman and Eric Gupton. The Pomo Afro Homos were a groundbreaking San Francisco-based performance group whose work explored the identities and experiences of gay Black men while challenging stereotypes, deconstructing myths, and creating opportunities for truthful, realistic representations of a historically underrepresented group. Branner served as the troupe's co-artistic director from 1990 until 1995, during which he co-wrote and performed <span class=\"title\">Fierce Love: Stories of Black Gay Life</span> (1990) and <span class=\"title\">Dark Fruit</span> (1991) with Brian Freeman, Eric Gupton, and Marvin K. White. Pomo Afro Homos were critically acclaimed and commercially successful, touring nationally and internationally in venues such as Josie's Cabaret and Juice Joint in San Francisco, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and the Public Theater in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Dance Place in Washington, D.C., and the Drill Hall in London.</p> <p>After marrying Patrick Scully, a Minneapolis-based performance artist and founder of Patrick's Cabaret, Branner relocated from San Francisco to Minneapolis in 1994. His first solo theatre performance, <span class=\"title\">Sweet Sadie</span>, a one-person show about his relationship with his mother, premiered at Patrick's Cabaret in 1994. He toured nationally and internationally with the show between 1994 and 1997, performing in venues such as Out North Theater in Anchorage and Dixon's Place in New York and at events like artBlacklive in Leicester, England and the National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem. During this time, he also performed with Morris Johnson's Drummers and Dancers of Langa.</p> <p>In 1995, Branner and his then-husband Patrick Scully collaborated on <span class=\"title\">Forever Hold Your Piece</span>, a satirical performance piece about interracial gay marriage which premiered in 1996 at Patrick's Cabaret. That year, he was awarded a Jerome Travel and Study Grant to study dance in Haiti and was featured as a keynote speaker at artBlacklive-Two, a Black-led forum on live art sponsored by the Black Arts Alliance in Leicester, England. Branner later worked on <span class=\"title\">Homos in the House</span>, a two act play, and <span class=\"title\">The House That Crack Built</span>, a collaborative theater, music, and dance performance with Aaron Barnell. <span class=\"title\">Homos in the House</span> was subsequently co-commissioned by Intermedia Arts and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 1998. The following year, Branner was awarded the McKnight Fellowship for an 18-month fellowship at Intermedia Arts. He was also Bush Artist Fellow of 2000, for which he was awarded a $40,0000 grant from the Bush Foundation. In 2000, Branner staged <span class=\"title\">Mighty Real: A Tribute to Sylvester</span>, a stage tribute to the openly gay Black singer-songwriter and legendary \"Queen of Disco\" that premiered at Intermedia Arts.</p> <p>Branner earned a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre from the New School for Drama in 2006. He has acted in plays like <span class=\"title\">Angels in America</span>, <span class=\"title\">Black Nativity</span>, <span class=\"title\">Blues for an Alabama Sky</span>, <span class=\"title\">Fools and Lovers</span>, and<span class=\"title\"> …and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi</span>. Branner's poetry, plays, and prose have been featured in journals such as <span class=\"title\">Evergreen Chronicles: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Arts and Cultures</span>, <span class=\"title\">Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Yemonja</span>, as well as anthologized in <span class=\"title\">In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology</span>, <span class=\"title\">Here to Dare: 10 Black Gay Poets</span>, <span class=\"title\">Staging Gay Lives: An Anthology of Contemporary Gay Theater</span>, <span class=\"title\">Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Writing</span>, and <span class=\"title\">ZYZZYVA</span>. His work has been collected in <span class=\"title\">lyrics of the last born and sash and trim and other stories</span>.</p> <p>Branner has taught traditional Haitian dance and folklore at Cadaques Dance Center in Barcelona (1985), Underground Movement in San Francisco (1986-1987), Third Wave Dance in San Francisco (1987-1990), the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts (1989-1994), the Institute of Choreography in San Francisco (1990-1994), the City College of San Francisco (1991-1993), Stanford University (1994), and Macalester College (1996-2002). He has also taught acting and theatre courses at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota. Currently an Associate Professor of Theatre at Hampshire College's School of Interdisciplinary Arts, Branner formerly served as the dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Djola Branner papers, 1983-2010, document his personal life and professional career as a writer, poet, dancer, choreographer, actor, and educator. The collection reflects how his identity and experiences as a gay Black man informed much of his creative work.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Djola Branner papers are arranged in two series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/185433#c1609414'>Personal</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca. 1985-2008</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains biographical profiles, personal and professional correspondence, and ephemera such as event program material and pin-back buttons from gay rights organizations and political campaigns. The correspondence folder includes greeting cards, postcards, and letters from friends, as well as an invitation to his 1994 wedding to Patrick Scully.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/185433#c1609419'>Professional</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca. 1983-2010</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series documents Branner's career as a writer, choreographer, director, playwright, actor, and performing artist, including his work with Pomo Afro Homos.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into two series: I. Personal and II. Professional</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Djola Branner, 2012.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p> Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio material. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.</p> <p>Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Nora Soto, April 2017.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Finding aid updated by Lauren Stark.", "date"=>"2020 December 8"}
- date_start
-
1983
- keydate
-
1983
- date_end
-
2010
- date_inclusive_start
-
1983
- date_inclusive_end
-
2010
- extent_statement
-
1.25 linear feet (2 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Djola Branner papers, Sc MG 868, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>" The Djola Branner papers, 1983-2010, document his personal life and professional career as a writer, poet, dancer, choreographer, actor, and educator. The collection reflects how his identity and experiences as a gay Black man informed much of his creative work.", "generated"=>true}